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From the Governance Center

Peter Georgescu has lived the remarkable rags-to-riches life which America takes pride in, coming from a Romanian work camp to eventually becoming CEO of the fabled Young & Rubicam advertising agency in New York. However, the America which helped Mr. Georgescu succeed has greatly changed, and the widening wealth gap, stagnant wages, and decline in jobs have made it harder and harder for working classes to achieve prosperity.

In his newly-released book "Capitalists Arise! End Economic Inequality, Grow the Middle Class, Heal the Nation", Mr. Georgescu calls out corporate America’s focus on shareholder primacy and quarterly returns as the culprit which has hijacked capitalism. Such short-term thinking has led companies to make decisions which, over time, have moved prosperity further and further out of reach of the majority – and it is up to this very same corporate leadership to turn things around.

In this interview with Governance Center Executive Director Doug Chia, Mr. Georgescu will share some of his personal story, his thoughts on the current state of the American economy and his ideas on how his fellow CEOs can course-correct capitalism, to re-empower middle classes and provide greater prosperity to companies, executives, employees, and society as a whole.

Who should attend: Current and prospective board members of public companies; CEOs and other C-suite executives and management; Governance professionals